U.S. Ski Jumping Championships: Van and Frenette double up with Large Hill, Demong takes Nordic Combined title

The U.S. Ski Jumping Championships concluded Sunday morning with the large hill competition. In no surprise, both Peter Frenette and Lindsey Van earned their second jumping title of the weekend’s contest. The victory marked Van’s 15th U.S. Championship title and Frenette’s second.

The men’s competition was filled with drama, as Frenette stumbled his first jump before stomping his eventual winning jump of 133 meters, edging out Brett Camerota. Anders Johnson rounded out the podium, grabbing his second third place finish of the weekend.

“My first jump was a really good, but it was from too high of gate. I went really far and landed too flat, so I wasn’t able to stand,” said Frenette. “It’s just nice to have good results early in the season and to go to Europe with momentum.”

Van put down the furthest jump for the women, with her second jump of 124.5 meters. Van’s second jump pushed her on top of the podium ahead of Jessica Jerome, the leader after the first jump. Sarah Hendrickson, who recently celebrated her 16th birthday, finished the day in third.

“Everyone has been so competitive and that’s good for our team and our sport,” said Van. “We’re pushing each other every jump and everyone is improving. It keeps it interesting for everyone.”

The large hill competition results were subsequently used to seed the cross-country portion of the 2011 backcountry.com U.S. Nordic Combined Championships. After the jumps, brothers Brett Camerota and Eric Camerota clinched the top two starting positions heading into the cross country race. The second half of the 2011 backcountry.com U.S. Nordic Combined Championships concluded Sunday evening at Soldier Hollow with Park City’s own Brett Camerota coming across the finish line first, marking his first U.S. Championship title. After the jumping portion, held at the Utah Olympic Park, Brett Camerota was seeded 1:14 ahead of 2011 runner-up Todd Lodwick. Lodwick went into the cross country portion starting third behind brothers Brett and Eric Camerota.

“After the jump, I knew I would have a little bit of a lead, so that means I would be out there by myself,” said Camerota. “My plan was to take the first lap kind of easy and try to have the last lap my fastest because you really don’t have anyone to race with. It was good to just holding everyone off.”

Lodwick made up ground moving from a third place start to finishing second. Lodwick started 53 seconds behind Eric Camerota. Pressing full steam ahead, he made up the difference in the first lap, going into the second lap in second place.

“It’s hard to be disappointed in not winning when you have so many young kids coming up in the program pushing us older guys,” said Lodwick. “It’s encouraging for the years to come for this program. If I can still compete against the young guys half my age and still have the gusto and drive then so be it. I’ll be out here trying my best every day, but it’s nice to see those young kids push us day-in and day-out. It’s a testament of the growing program we have in nordic combined.”

Billy Demong started the race in fifth. Demong let it fly during the roller-ski portion making up time and places to finish on the podium in third. Demong started 1:50 behind Brett Camerota and 36 seconds behind Lodwick.

“I haven’t been roller-skiing much, but I’m pretty fit coming off a bike race last week,” said Demong. “I kind of had to go for it since I jumped so short today. I ended up hanging on for a pretty good time and got on the podium, it was kind of unexpected, but it was a good fight.”

Sunday’s nordic combined competition wrapped up the weekend long 2011 backcountry.com U.S. Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined Championships. Events were held under a hot summer sun at the Utah Olympic Park and Soldier Hollow, with cheering fans.